My Dell 1526 laptop seemed to come equipped to play backed-up, DRM-free BluRay titles from either ISOs or BluRay Folders on hard disk. For example, it includes HDMI audio and video output and the like. Here's Dell's online owners manual (note that it covers 4 different models: I have just the 1526 laptop without a BluRay-compatible DVD disc drive): Dell™ Inspiron™ 1525/1525se/1526/1526se Owner's Manual
The 1526 also includes something called a: "Broadcom BD Accelerator Solution", but for the life of me I can't find any information about that at all other than driver download links! The implication, obviously, is that it somehow accelerates BluRay Disc (BD?) playback, but who the heck knows? Do any of you?
The thing is, although everything -- audio and video -- basically works when I play BluRay ISOs on my HDTV at 1080i resolution through the laptop's HDMI output, the video playback is just a little slow. It looks to the viewer as if it's playing the material at 0.9x speed, which is close, but no cigar.
I've researched the issue, but the best I can come up with is that the problem may be related to the ATI Radeon X1270 graphics card. Although I can't find anything that explicitly states that the Radeon X1270 isn't capable of playing BluRay at 1080i resolution, CyberLink's BluRay compatibility checker says that it's not compatible with BluRay (but it says that about my desktop graphics cards too, but I can playback BluRay discs perfectly on them!)
Which leaves the question of what the heck the "Broadcom BD Accelerator Solution" does! Is it supposed to somehow compensate for the relatively limited capability of the Radeon X1270? There's also a product called a "Broadcom Media PC card", which seems to be a PC card that you can plug into a laptop to provide high-def video playback, but I couldn't find any information on that product either, or where to buy one. Again, does anyone know?
Assuming that I'd have to have a more capable graphics card, I found this page: Is it possible to upgrade Inspiron 1526 laptop graphics card?. So, since the graphics card is integrated into the motherboard, it can't be upgraded separately. Which leads me to the next question in this post: Can I replace the motherboard in order to get full BluRay playback capability?
I've never opened a laptop, but it seems to me one major difficulty would be finding a replacement mobo that had all the connectors in the exactly right positions to match the external case. Or are cables used to wire them, leaving some flexibility in that regard?
The Dell 1526 has a CD/DVD drive and two USB connectors on the right side, none in the back, two USB connectors, a VGA connector (which I never use), an RJ45 Ethernet connector (which I do use), a phone jack (which I never use), a HDMI connector, and a FireWire port (which I use very often) on the left side, and headphone and microphone jacks on the front.
Any comments, advice, or suggestions appreciated.
The 1526 also includes something called a: "Broadcom BD Accelerator Solution", but for the life of me I can't find any information about that at all other than driver download links! The implication, obviously, is that it somehow accelerates BluRay Disc (BD?) playback, but who the heck knows? Do any of you?
The thing is, although everything -- audio and video -- basically works when I play BluRay ISOs on my HDTV at 1080i resolution through the laptop's HDMI output, the video playback is just a little slow. It looks to the viewer as if it's playing the material at 0.9x speed, which is close, but no cigar.
I've researched the issue, but the best I can come up with is that the problem may be related to the ATI Radeon X1270 graphics card. Although I can't find anything that explicitly states that the Radeon X1270 isn't capable of playing BluRay at 1080i resolution, CyberLink's BluRay compatibility checker says that it's not compatible with BluRay (but it says that about my desktop graphics cards too, but I can playback BluRay discs perfectly on them!)
Which leaves the question of what the heck the "Broadcom BD Accelerator Solution" does! Is it supposed to somehow compensate for the relatively limited capability of the Radeon X1270? There's also a product called a "Broadcom Media PC card", which seems to be a PC card that you can plug into a laptop to provide high-def video playback, but I couldn't find any information on that product either, or where to buy one. Again, does anyone know?
Assuming that I'd have to have a more capable graphics card, I found this page: Is it possible to upgrade Inspiron 1526 laptop graphics card?. So, since the graphics card is integrated into the motherboard, it can't be upgraded separately. Which leads me to the next question in this post: Can I replace the motherboard in order to get full BluRay playback capability?
I've never opened a laptop, but it seems to me one major difficulty would be finding a replacement mobo that had all the connectors in the exactly right positions to match the external case. Or are cables used to wire them, leaving some flexibility in that regard?
The Dell 1526 has a CD/DVD drive and two USB connectors on the right side, none in the back, two USB connectors, a VGA connector (which I never use), an RJ45 Ethernet connector (which I do use), a phone jack (which I never use), a HDMI connector, and a FireWire port (which I use very often) on the left side, and headphone and microphone jacks on the front.
Any comments, advice, or suggestions appreciated.
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